Colombia beat Greece 3-0 in Group C opener

Hindustantimes.com (with inputs from Reuters)

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Updated: Jun 15, 2014 01:04 IST

Colombia celebrated their first World Cup appearance since 1998 with a deserved 3-0 win over Greece on Saturday in a free-flowing display that showed their abundance of attacking talent even without top striker Radamel Falcao.

The South Americans made a blistering start with left back Pablo Amero scoring with a 5th minute deflected shot. Striker Teofilo Gutierrez extended their lead, stabbing home a 58th minute corner, and midfield James Rodriguez added a late third goal to seal the win.

The Group C opener in Belo Horizonte's Estadio Mineirao showed that Colombia remain a force to be reckoned with despite the injury to Falcao, which overshadowed their buildup to the tournament.